


Playing With Fire

by ribcages



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Demons, Demons, Fire Powers, M/M, Romance, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-08
Updated: 2018-10-08
Packaged: 2019-07-28 01:15:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16231157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ribcages/pseuds/ribcages
Summary: Baekhyun’s new house comes with natural sunlight, a balcony and a demonic ritual already set up in the basement.





	Playing With Fire

**Author's Note:**

> big big thank you to the prompter - sorry it's fairly short and squished, i hope you like it anyway! another huge thanks to the mods as well, i really appreciate how lovely you've been! ♡

"Yah?" Baekhyun answered his phone, shoving another marshmallow into his mouth. It slipped out of his fingers and down the side of the couch. He ignored it and grabbed another.

"Is this Byun Baekhyun? I’m calling from Ace Realty.” 

Baekhyun choked on his marshmallow when a much more professional voice than he expected answered.

He'd visited _the_ apartment over a week ago and truly didn't think he was ever going to hear back from the agency. Ever since he'd received notice that his landlord was increasing the price of his rent, he'd been desperately looking for somewhere else to move. His backup resort was sleeping on Chanyeol's couch, and he'd played enough D &D with their group to know the kind of treatment it got. 

“Yes, this is Byun Baekhyun speaking." He cleared his throat. "How may I help?” 

The voice on the other end of the line didn’t seem impressed. “I was calling about the apartment you inspected last week to let you know your application has been approved. Please come into the office at your earliest convenience and we’ll get things set up.”

Baekhyun shot up from his position on the couch. “Really? Thank you so much! I’ll be in touch soon!”

He realised a split second too late that he probably shouldn’t have hung up on the agent the way he did, but this called for a celebration.

He hung up the phone and called for reinforcements. “KYUNGSOO! CHANYEOL! Fuck DnD tonight, we’re getting wasted!”

Twin groans came from the kitchen before Kyungsoo yelled back.

“Baek, it’s only 1pm!”

“We’re not fucking cancelling this, Baekhyun. Finish your character sheet or get the fuck out.”

He smiled and reached back into his bag of marshmallows. This was probably a better celebration, anyway.

 

\- ☽ -

 

When he’d gone to the inspection, the apartment had been nice enough to make Kyungsoo, the only friend he deemed responsible enough to accompany him, suspicious. 

"But Soo, it's got a _bathtub_!" Baekhyun whispered, looking around at the other couples inspecting the apartment. 

"That's why I'm _suspicious_ , idiot," Kyungsoo said, shaking off Baekhyun's grip on his wrist and opening a cupboard door. "It looks like a pretty new building, too."

Baekhyun shook off his concerns, wandering further through the apartment. Kyungsoo looked like he was half expecting to find a body in a hall closet or mould in the bathroom, but they saw nothing of the sort. The paint was new and the bathroom was modern, and the kitchen was one that only Kyungsoo or Chanyeol would properly use.

"Well, I guess apply for it and see, Baekhyun." 

Baekhyun whooped at the sound of his friend's reluctant blessing.

 

\- ☽ -

 

While he'd spent a lot of time since then convincing Kyungsoo otherwise, he really was aware that it was too good to be true.

"So, what's wrong with it?" he asked the receptionist at the real estate agency. “I’ve already signed, so you can tell me.”

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," she receptionist replied coolly, sliding Baekhyun’s new keycard over the counter, along with the ID he’d given over. At least the catch wasn't identity theft. 

“Look, the place, it’s nice,” Baekhyun started, exasperated. ”The rent on this is what I'd be paying for a cardboard box on the street outside, not the actual apartment. What's wrong with it?" 

"Sorry, I don't know,” the receptionist replied, turning to type away on the computer in front of him. “If any issues arise, you can contact the agent.”

He sighed. Even once he'd signed the documents and been given the codes and emergency key by a very dismissive property manager who’d promptly left him with the receptionist, he knew there was going to be something wrong with the place. He'd spent so much time trying to convince everyone else, but honestly, he'd barely convinced himself. Once he'd swiped the card to enter his new house, he mostly just prayed he didn’t get eaten alive by mice, or contract some disease from hidden mould.

Chanyeol had been nice enough (read: cheap enough to bribe with beer) to help Baekhyun pack up his shit and drive it over in the ridiculous old van he bought when he was convinced he was going to be a rockstar, which didn't particularly tie in with his 9 - 5 corporate office job. Kyungsoo mostly tagged along so they didn’t die.

Baekhyun used one hand to swipe the keycard and dumped the boxes in his arms right inside, groaning. He reached his arms up to stretch, popping all the joints in his arms. 

Chanyeol whistled, more carefully placing the boxes down than Baekhyun had. "Kyungsoo really wasn't wrong. There's gotta be a downfall. Maybe your neighbours have really loud, kinky sex all the time."

"I wouldn't mind," he replied breezily, moving through the bare space to lie down and starfish on the floor. "Worth it."

Kyungsoo appeared, somehow carrying more boxes than both of them put together, before adding them to the pile and heading over to open the windows. "I hope you don't trash it immediately."

"I've managed to live out of home for years now Soo, don't you believe in me?" he asked, aiming puppy eyes at Kyungsoo's retreating back.

"I was literally there when you found a cum sock under the couch when we moved it, Baekhyun."

Baekhyun closed his eyes and smiled. “And yet you’re still friends with me. Love you too, Soo.”

 

\- ☽ -

 

He'd spent most of the afternoon unpacking the boxes Kyungsoo had been nice enough to label as "important!!! kitchen" so he had enough in his place to live, at least. So of course, as soon as he was done the absolute bare minimum, Baekhyun started searching for the freaky shit he was sure that was hidden inside the house.

He went through the house carefully, looking closely at the walls and cupboards, carefully through the (built in!) wardrobes. He pushed curtains to the side, looked inside the shower and checked the edges of the floors.

That's when he found the trapdoor in the hallway.

"Holy fuck," he exclaimed aloud. There had to be something creepy in there. He was sure he didn’t see that before. Shit like this didn't happen in real life.

Realising that he was about to become the lead in his own cheap horror film, he ran back to his suitcase to grab the TVXQ lightstick Chanyeol had teased him for months about ("Baekhyun, you're not a 15 year old girl-" "Shut the fuck up Chanyeol, gender roles are a lie" "That's not the point I was trying to make!") to use as a torch and yanked the trapdoor until it came up.

There was a small set of stairs that were so steep they almost looked more like a ladder. He quickly turned the lightstick on and made his way down carefully, trying his best not to fall.

The room was pitch black, and the red light emanating from the lightstick didn't stop the atmosphere from being creepy as hell. He noticed a cord dangling from the ceiling, so before he could scare himself too much he pulled it in hopes that the light wouldn't shatter in his face.

Once the room was lit a little better, he took a big breath of relief - before choking on it.

He was expecting blood, maybe a dead body, potentially creepy shit written all over the walls. What he found was what looked like an amateur cult had been doing their best to turn this into a witches' den. There was a long desk full of different kinds of bottles and a very tiny cauldron (ok, good, apparently you can still buy those in 2018), and across the room there was a stand with an old, weathered book on it, open to a random page. The main highlight of the room was the huge pentagram on the floor, which appeared to be drawn with scattered salt.

Baekhyun giggled.

He wasn't going to lie, it was weird, but he didn’t necessarily find it creepy. He walked over to the table before flicking on the burner underneath the cauldron - ok, apparently that worked. Maybe he could turn this into a den for their DnD nights. That would be sick. 

He took a little time wandering around the room before a pungent smell decided to make itself known. Baekhyun whipped around, realising he never turned off the burner, just in time for the overhead light to blow out and a bright burst of light to burst out from the pentagram.

Flames rose from the centre of the pentagram, slowly expanding outwards until it reached the rough size of a crouching human. The flames continued to lick at the creature in the centre, who slowly unfolded himself to a standing position.

Well, it seemed to appear human, at least. 

Baekhyun stood frozen in shock while he waited for the being to say something; anger at the world, or at least asking why he'd been summoned. All he really had to go on was books and movies - would he look human but have a voice from another realm? 

But all the demon would do is just stand there. 

"Are you going to tell me why you've summoned me, then?" the demon finally asked, turning to him with a bored expression. 

Baekhyun wasn’t exactly expecting the demon to be _polite_ , but he definitely wasn’t expecting the flat out apathy on the face in front of him.

“Well, that’s a funny story, actually,” Baekhyun replied. How does one explain to a demon that he accidentally performed a ritual to summon him?

"I don't really have all day. Can we just get it over with? What do you want? You've summoned a demon, by the way - not a ghost," he said, picking underneath his fingernails. "If I have one more human ask me to haunt someone I'm going to burn them where they stand,” he muttered under his breath, fire appearing at the ends of his fingertips.

"Umm," Baekhyun started. He mentally scrolled through a list of things he could ask the demon for, but really, this guy looked like he'd halfass anything he got given. "It's fine? You can just... go back, if you want."

The demon paused and looked up, making eye contact that had Baekhyun hardening his stance. "You've gone to all this trouble, only to send me back immediately? What’s wrong with you?"

Baekhyun took a deep breath. “I didn’t set most of this up! I just moved in, I found all this shit set up in a basement, turned on a burner and wow, I could summon a demon! I didn’t think it would actually,” Baekhyun waves his hands, “do anything!”

He didn’t think it was possible for Sehun’s stare to get even more unimpressed, but he was wrong. “Fine. Send me back then.”

“Wait, what?” This was more than Baekhyun was expecting. _He_ had to send him back?

“Well, you summoned me here. So you have to send me back. At least tell me you know how to do that,” the demon scoffed. 

Trying not to panic, Baekhyun walked over to the open book, hoping he might find a potion or incarnation to take the demon back to… wherever he came from. He flipped the pages, but as soon as he touched the book, the ink bled out from all of the pages before the whole book suddenly become blank.

"Unfortunately, no. That is not something I know how to do." Baekhyun replied evenly, shutting his eyes. "But there _is _something that I need to do right now."__

 

\- ☽ -

 

__"What is that in your cup?" the demon asked, stalking around to the other side of the kitchen counter and leaning down to sniff curiously._ _

__"Vodka," Baekhyun replied, throwing it down his throat. "So. Now that we've made it clear that, while I've made a grave error, I did not know what I was doing, can we just clear things up on your end?"_ _

__The demon looked unimpressed. “Not that you’re worthy of it, but I may tell you a few things. What do you want to know?" he asked, folding his arms on top of the kitchen counter._ _

__"Can we start with who - or what - the fuck you are? Do you even have a normal name, or is it something really fucked up?"_ _

__The demon rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to attempt to explain the hierarchy, but I'm a demon. An important one. You can call me Sehun."_ _

__"Of course you're important," Baekhyun replied, pressing fingers to his temple. "Okay Sehun, any key personality traits? Are you a dog or a cat lover?"_ _

__Sehun's mouth flattened in a line. "I don't assign such labels to myself."_ _

__"I bet you're a cat lover," Baekhyun continued, vodka thankfully already pushing through his veins. He pulled out his phone and furiously started typing in the search bar. "They're so cute, and they just-"_ _

__" _Stop_ that," the demon commanded, the whites of his eyes instantly turning black. Fire appeared at the demon's fingertips again and a hot gust of wind pushed Baekhyun's phone out of his hands._ _

__Baekhyun could do little more than stare at his now empty hand. He glanced up at the demon. “Okay. You wanna tell me what the fuck that was about?"_ _

__He watched as Sehun slowly regained control of himself, the fire starting to fade from his fingertips, eyes turning back from black. He averted his eyes. ”My ex had a cat."_ _

__"Your ex- what? There are cats in hell?" Baekhyun asked._ _

__Sehun gave him a flat look._ _

__“Okaaaay, guess I’m not asking,” Baekhyun said, turning around to get himself a glass of water. “But get used to the human world for a while, I guess.”_ _

__Baekhyun wasn’t really sure how to react to the situation. He puttered around for a bit, hanging up tea towels and setting up the cutlery draw, before ultimately deciding to fuck it and go to sleep._ _

__“Okay demon,” Baekhyun began._ _

__“It’s Sehun,” the demon seethed._ _

__“Okay, sure, Sehun. I’m going to head to sleep. I’m really hoping this is some kind of fever dream and that you’ll be gone when I wake up. I’d say it was great to meet you, but I’d be lying. Sleep well~!” he bid, turning around and promptly walking toward his new bedroom._ _

__He didn’t look behind him to check the demon’s response._ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__Unfortunately, the night wasn’t a fever dream, and now Baekhyun could only watch as Sehun lurked mopily around the supermarket aisles._ _

__“He used to bring these back to the underworld because he loved them so much,” he snorted, flicking a wrist at the Corn Flakes. Several boxes went flying off the shelves and scattered dramatically on the floor._ _

__It had taken a while for him to open up, but Sehun finally admitted to having recently broken up with another demon who came up to the human realm frequently on "business". Whatever that meant._ _

__“Sehun, you can’t just ruin everything because it reminds you of your ex,” Baekhyun whined, smacking the demon’s arm and rushing to pick up the boxes of cereal scattered around the floor. “And Corn Flakes?” Was he serious? What kind of demon…_ _

__“You know I can do much worse than that for smacking me, right?” Sehun turned to him, raising an arm, looking as though he was about to attempt the same flick that sent the cereal boxes flying._ _

__Baekhyun just stared at him with a deadpan expression. He wished he cared a little more, but at that point he just grumbled and resigned himself to cleaning up the aisle._ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__“I want to go into this one,” Sehun demands, herding Baekhyun into a brightly lit store._ _

__By this point, Baekhyun had stopped looking up from his phone. They’d been in phone stores, homewares stores, an ice cream store, a bakery and a newsagent, all with Sehun whining for Baekhyun to pay for things before he magicked his own money. Asshole demon._ _

__Baekhyun shuffled his way to the closest boyfriend seat and sat down, texting Chanyeol to tell him he wasn’t going to make it to their scheduled D &D night. _ _

__[Baekhyun]  
sorry, not gonna make it tonight_ _

__[Chanyeol]  
wtf man? you’re the DM_ _

___[Baekhyun]_  
i'm sure u nerds can find something else to do  
or someone, perhaps 

__[Chanyeol]  
fuckin wtvr i’ll get soo to make me dinner, u’ll regret this!!!_ _

__Baekhyun looked up to a tap on his shoulder._ _

__Sehun stood in front of him. He briefly noticed two giggling staff members a few paces behind. That was at the back of his mind though - clearly they’d entered a cosmetics store, and while Baekhyun was trying to get out of his commitments, Sehun had been made over by the staff._ _

__It wasn’t anything too drastic, but it was enough to make the other demon... well, even _more_ otherworldly than before. While he’d always looked incredible, which Baekhyun was assumed was part of the whole demon deal, currently he looked nothing short of ethereal. Dark shadows surrounded his lids, with a very slight highlight in the top of his cheekbones. There wasn’t much else he could pick out apart from a bit of dark red gloss on his lips. _ _

__Baekhyun had nothing to say except for tightly grasping his wrist and leaving the store very quickly._ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__“So how do humans usually deal with problems like this, then?” Sehun asked._ _

__"Problems like what? Being stuck in another realm?" Baekhyun asked, his second pack of marshmallows for the week already half gone._ _

__“No. I mean… you know. My ex. He’s a dick.”_ _

__Baekhyun snorted. “You’re heartbroken? Well, there are a few ways. Myself, I have a two part plan to get myself out of a funk.”_ _

__“He didn’t break my heart, I-“_ _

__“Yeah, we get it,” Baekhyun dismissed, flicking through the channels on the tv. “Come on.”_ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__STEP ONE: COMFORT._ _

__“You’re telling me that my first step is to turn myself into a human food?” Sehun asked, his face poking out the top of the blanket Baekhyun had wrapped him in. He struggled to get his arms free._ _

__“I’m- it’s a metaphor, Sehun. You just look like a burrito, you aren’t actually one,” Baekhyun sighed, snuggling further down into his own blanket. “It’s like you underworld beings don’t even have a sense of humour,” he scoffed._ _

__Baekhyun could see the tips of Sehun’s fingers turning scarlet. “Excuse me, I’ll have you know-“_ _

__“Could you stop ruining my possessions and my life for thirty seconds, please?” Baekhyun begged, quickly pulling one arm out of his own burritoed blanket to smack the swaddled demon. “I’ll even let you choose the tv show.”_ _

__A few minutes passed in silence while Sehun took the remote and with limited instruction, learned how to switch channels._ _

__Sehun narrowed his eyes. “This is fascinating.”_ _

__Baekhyun looked up from his Candy Crush game to see a blue cartoon penguin. “Sehun. This is a children’s tv show.”_ _

__“I don’t see the distinction between a show for adults and one for children.”_ _

__“You know what? Sure. You’re right. Let’s watch this.” He decided to pick his battles, and this wasn’t one he cared enough to fight with._ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__"What do you mean, 'no'," Baekhyun asked flatly, crossing his arms over a chest and looking at a very greasy demon._ _

__"I'm not touching the water," Sehun said, leaning back on the couch, greasy hair flopping to the side as he turned his neck to face Baekhyun._ _

__"Sehun, you need to wash." Demons and headaches came hand in hand, apparently. It’d been three days, and Baekhyun’s demon problem had started to smell._ _

__" _Baekhyun_ ," the demon said, mimicking Baekhyun's tone. “Sorry, but I don't subscribe to your human views of cleanliness."_ _

__"Well _demon_ ” he sniffed, “your human form begs to differ. You stink. Get in the bathtub." _ _

__"Only if you get in with me,” the demon replied with a smirk._ _

__Getting up close and personal with a hot, naked demon wasn't something Baekhyun took issue with. He expected the demon to be surprised or take it back, but he just remained as deadpan as ever. It took a little organising to get them there, but they both managed to fit in the tub eventually. It was a little hard at first; Sehun had given him a flat look when he'd asked the demon to get in first, so Baekhyun had to take the bullet and be the big spoon while Sehun scrunched up his legs so they wouldn't hang out the side of the tub._ _

__“What’s the last step?” the demon asked._ _

__Baekhyun opened his eyes just in time to watch the demon’s eyes slide shut. He watched the long line of his neck as Sehun leaned his head back onto his shoulder._ _

__He pressed his lips together. “I always go clubbing. It’s usually a rebound phase, to make myself feel less like a sack of potatoes and more like the confident person I am, but somehow I don’t think you’d need the ego boost.”_ _

__Usually for this, he went clubbing. He knew Sehun would like it. He also knew that he would hate being the chaperone. People chaperoned him, he did not chaperone them, and it wasn’t like he could exactly bring Kyungsoo or Chanyeol into the equation here._ _

__Sehun’s eyes lit up at the word ‘clubbing’ and he wiggled a bit, causing water to splash around. “Clubbing, like what they do at the beginning of City of Bones?”_ _

__Baekhyun’s quick contingency plan of changing exactly what the rebound period entailed swirled slowly down the drain in his brain. “And pray tell Sehunnie,” he asked in a saccharine sweet voice, “how did you know that?’_ _

__“Don’t call me that. I Googled popular, recent movies with demons in them to see what not to act like.”_ _

__“O..kay. Sure. You know what? Sure. Let’s go clubbing, Sehun. This is the last step though, and it always works. There’s nothing else after this, ok?”_ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__STEP TWO: REBOUND._ _

__The lights in the club were dimmed, the venue itself set inside an old underground train railway line. It was split up into a few rooms. Baekhyun and Sehun had split up at some point during the night, Baekhyun favouring the more upbeat dance music, and Sehun slinking away to the R &B room._ _

__Baekhyun lost track of him for a while, deciding to enjoy himself by dancing along with the crowd. He let people buy him drinks and put their hands on his waist, but twisted out of reach as soon as they got a little bolder._ _

__He'd managed to forget about his current life choices until he caught a glimpse of the demon rubbing up against some pretty girl in a tight dress. Sehun had clearly ditched the other room some time ago if the way they were dancing up against each other was any indication. Baekhyun watched as the girl’s arms snaked around Sehun's neck and pulled the demon down so that their faces were nearly touching. Baekhyun quickly glanced away._ _

__Normally, it didn’t take too long for someone who was interested to come up to him, but now it seemed as though no one would give him a second glance. Curious, he started to pay closer attention. It wasn't long before he saw a pattern: people would look over at him and take a step before immediately stiffening and turning towards the bar. Baekhyun briefly wondered if he was too drunk._ _

__His train of thought was cut off by the feeling of a hand snaking around his back, slipping forward to his tummy and pulling him back against the stranger’s body. Baekhyun tried to turn his head to see the person’s face, but they hooked their head over his shoulder before he could manage._ _

__“So, do you come here often?” Sehun breathed in his ear._ _

__All at once, through his hazy, drunken thoughts, the realisation came to him. “Yah, Sehun!” he yelled, turning around in the demon's hold and smacking his chest. “You can’t just use your scary demon eyes to stop people from hitting on me!”_ _

__The demon’s expression remained unchanged, and he quickly grabbed and held onto Baekhyun’s hands where they rested on his chest. “Says who?”_ _

__“I don’t know!” Baekhyun exploded. “Don’t you have some kind of underworld head demon thing? Isn’t Satan like, there? Don’t you get in trouble?”_ _

__“I don’t know where you think I come from, but I’m from the underworld. There are no rules,” he said, rolling his eyes and using his grip to turn Baekhyun around and pull him close again. He started swaying to the beat. “Wanna dance?”_ _

__“Yes I do, you stupid, hot demon,” Baekhyun muttered under his breath, already swaying his hips._ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__Baekhyun unlocked the door and pushed the demon through. “I can’t believe you, what do you think—um, excuse me!”_ _

__Sehun backed him against the door. The demon leaned closer into his space. “Hello, Baekhyun.”_ _

__Baekhyun blinked a few times in shock before dropping his features into an unimpressed look. “Hello, Sehun.”_ _

__“No need to greet me so nicely,” the demon scoffed, loosening the hold on the human’s wrists. Baekhyun’s eyes zoomed in on the slight downturn to his lips. Was the demon actually… offended?_ _

__Baekhyun rolled his eyes before dragging him to the bedroom._ _

__He pushed the tall demon on the bed and quickly climbed on top of him, throwing a leg over his waist to straddle him. “Stupid _impatient_ demon,” he said, leaning down to kiss him._ _

__Sehun’s hands lightly traced down his sides, fingers pushing down on his hipbones before sliding back up and pulling his shirt off._ _

__“You could’ve just asked,” Baekhyun scoffed, detaching them enough to get both his own and Sehun’s shirts off._ _

__“But I didn’t want to stop kissing you,” Sehun whined, sticking out his bottom lip into a pout._ _

__Baekhyun laughed before pulling the demon by the back of his neck in for another hungry kiss. “Stupid. Sexy. Cute. Pouty. Demon,” he muttered between kisses._ _

__Baekhyun slowly travelled his way down, laving small sweet kisses and tiny bites on Sehun’s neck before running his hands down the planes of the demon’s chest. “It’s not fair. Why do you get such a hot human form?”_ _

__“Guess it’s part of the package,” the demon replied, skating his fingers up Baekhyun’s side before flicking his thumbs over Baekhyun’s nipples. “I’m glad you approve though.”_ _

__Baekhyun only grinned. “More than you know.”_ _

 

\- ☽ -

 

__The next morning, sunlight streamed in from the window, slowly waking Baekhyun. He could feel the demon’s chest rise and fall, and knew he wasn’t asleep._ _

__"So what are you going to do now, Mr 'Send Me Back to Hell ASAP, Please?'" Baekhyun asked quietly, fingertips barely stroking the short hair at the back of the demon's neck._ _

__"Mmm," Sehun sighed, leaning further into the touch. "I think I've got enough hell with you on my hands, actually."_ _

__Baekhyun smiled, landing a smack on his ass. “You’re welcome.”_ _


End file.
